Where to End?
Jesus did many other things as well. If every one of them were written down, I suppose that even the whole world would not have room for the books that would be written. John 21:25, NIV.
We began this year's journey of turning our eyes upon Jesus with the question of "where to begin?" And that certainly is a problem. After all, if we had begun it with His birth in Bethlehem we would have missed most of the story.
We now face the same problem at the journey's conclusion. Where to end? is a question that must be asked. How do you bring to completion a life that resurrected from death, a life that has the keys of death and the grave and continues on eternally?
The answer, of course, is that there is no ending. The story of Jesus goes on and on. And like a mighty river, it picks up strength and added texture as it flows from eternity in the past to eternity in the future.
The apostle John helps us catch a glimpse of the problem of even chronicling the events and teachings of Jesus' earthly life, stating that if the whole story were told, "even the whole world would not have room for the books that would be written." John himself had opened up new realms in the life of Jesus that the other Gospel writers had neglected. Even a casual comparison of the fourth Gospel with the other three helps us see how much material he added to our store of knowledge. And yet that is only one little step toward what could be added to even our understanding of Jesus' earthly life. And even a full accounting of those 33 years would be hardly the tip of an iceberg compared with a detailed narrative of His eternal existence.
Such unwritten "gospels" will be part of our study for eternity. Meanwhile, in what the four evangelists have provided for us we have all we need to know for salvation.
How to end the story for now is the problem. Perhaps the best way is with the final paragraph in The Great Controversy, which reflects a complete atonement: "The great controversy is ended. Sin and sinners are no more. The entire universe is clean. One pulse of harmony and gladness beats through the vast creation. From Him who created all, flow life and light and gladness, throughout the realms of illimitable space. From the minutest atom to the greatest world, all things, animate and inanimate, in their unshadowed beauty and perfect joy, declare that God is love" (678).
Not a bad ending for a story that has no end.
Jesus did many other things as well. If every one of them were written down, I suppose that even the whole world would not have room for the books that would be written. John 21:25, NIV.
We began this year's journey of turning our eyes upon Jesus with the question of "where to begin?" And that certainly is a problem. After all, if we had begun it with His birth in Bethlehem we would have missed most of the story.
We now face the same problem at the journey's conclusion. Where to end? is a question that must be asked. How do you bring to completion a life that resurrected from death, a life that has the keys of death and the grave and continues on eternally?
The answer, of course, is that there is no ending. The story of Jesus goes on and on. And like a mighty river, it picks up strength and added texture as it flows from eternity in the past to eternity in the future.
The apostle John helps us catch a glimpse of the problem of even chronicling the events and teachings of Jesus' earthly life, stating that if the whole story were told, "even the whole world would not have room for the books that would be written." John himself had opened up new realms in the life of Jesus that the other Gospel writers had neglected. Even a casual comparison of the fourth Gospel with the other three helps us see how much material he added to our store of knowledge. And yet that is only one little step toward what could be added to even our understanding of Jesus' earthly life. And even a full accounting of those 33 years would be hardly the tip of an iceberg compared with a detailed narrative of His eternal existence.
Such unwritten "gospels" will be part of our study for eternity. Meanwhile, in what the four evangelists have provided for us we have all we need to know for salvation.
How to end the story for now is the problem. Perhaps the best way is with the final paragraph in The Great Controversy, which reflects a complete atonement: "The great controversy is ended. Sin and sinners are no more. The entire universe is clean. One pulse of harmony and gladness beats through the vast creation. From Him who created all, flow life and light and gladness, throughout the realms of illimitable space. From the minutest atom to the greatest world, all things, animate and inanimate, in their unshadowed beauty and perfect joy, declare that God is love" (678).
Not a bad ending for a story that has no end.
RSS Feed
